It is disconcerting to think of our government as an embezzler cooking the books.

Originally, the dollar was more than just a piece of paper with a picture of a president. It represented a fixed amount of a precious metal for which you would receive gold or silver upon demand. In 1913, the government created the Federal Reserve System and ceded its Constitutional power to “coin money and regulate the value thereof” to private bankers who are unaccountable to Congress.

The result of their policies is unsustainable debt and the devaluation of the dollar; to wit, two Mercury silver dimes will still buy a gallon of gasoline.

The rise in inflation, debt, taxes, unemployment, crony capitalism and corruption has occurred slowly and incrementally making the fleecing process almost imperceptible. We have become acclimated to our government conniving and defrauding its citizens. We accept it, take it for granted, don’t get riled up any more than sheep get indignant about being sheared.

Few things have changed since Aesop observed “We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office.”